​These posts were made using both Wrought Iron and Cast Iron techniques, according to third generation headstone maker and blacksmith expert Jack da Silva. In his report he dated the posts circa 1800's although verbally he had narrowed it to between 1870 - 1890. Again fitting the time line of changes that followed the great fire of 1872.

As with the burner, we believe that the Chinese-American community put in the fencing themselves. They not only had access to iron due to working for local iron works but could also afford (by pooling their resources as a community) to acquire it. Iron fencing was not cheep, especially because Wrought Iron refers to hand tooled design work requiring a huge amount lot of labor. The craftsmanship alone not to mention the materials themselves made it affordable only to the very wealthy. Which is why when we first noticed the posts we were stumped and wondered why someone with means would have had their plot in such and undesirable location.

Chinese-American communities throughout California put in this type of fencing to prevent bigoted whites from desecrating their ancestors graves, an unfortunate all to common problem throughout California and the West. Bodies were often dug up and left exposed or sent elsewhere.

​The posts found here along with the fencing were prefabricated elsewhere then assembled on site. You will also notice the angle brackets on both the top and bottom of the post are adjustable using a thumb screw. This allowed for the easy attachment of the fence pieces after the posts were installed.